Wednesday, March 31, 2010

We are proud to announce that Self Helpless will be released for free on bittorrent on Friday, April 16th 2010. The film will be available as a free and legal download exclusively on bittorrent for 4 days. After this 4 day bittorrent-only release we will not make any effort to remove the film. It is yours, enjoy. We had planned to release Self Helpless for a 7 day bittorrent-only run, but we ran into some technical issues over the last few days. The DVD release will begin on 4/20.

The name of the torrent file is Self Helpless_(2010)_xvid_avi.avi - it should be available on a number of public trackers. Please feel free to upload Self Helpless to any trackers or private sites. We will also be uploading an MOV version, as well as several larger full HD versions for the real cinephiles.

We want as many people as possible to download Self Helpless. We will update the blog and twitter with a list of sites that have the torrent.

If you are new to the whole Self Helpless bittorrent movement, here are two blog posts that will bring you up to speed.

This is the future of content distribution. Downloaders are not opposed to artists profiting from their craft, they just want a chance to check stuff out before buying. You get to test drive a car. You try on clothes before you buy them. You can even mess with your iPod for 30 days and then bring it back to Best Buy. Why, then, does hollywood insist that people spend their hard earned money before ever getting a chance to see if they like a movie? We see downloading as capitalism at its best.

Our model is simple. We have made a great, unique, hilarious film. Self Helpless appeals directly to people in our age group who enjoy clever, low brow, character driven comedies. So we want people to see the damned movie. If they decide that they like Self Helpless, then they can buy an extended Director's Cut DVD or a dope-ass original t-shirt. This works for us because our movie is solid. This scares Hollywood because studios make big money by scamming people into paying to see the same formulaic, cliche movies. No one is going to buy a t-shirt for "Wanted" because it was a piece of dog-shit.

If you make quality content that people can identify with and get behind, then they will support it. Bittorrent is the greatest thing to happen to filmmakers, and they are missing the boat.

We are not accepting donations. We are healthy, intelligent young men, and there are far better causes to which you could donate. If you do want to support the film we have a bunch of original movie merchandise for sale at all different price levels. If you are as short on cash as we are, then just join our email list. That way you will be able to come see us when we bring our particular brand of screening / live comedy / giant tequila-soaked party to your town.

Big studios are spending millions trying to combat, sue, and lock up downloaders. They should be spending that money making innovative movies. Fuck that. We ride with the downloaders. You are our people. We made Self Helpless for you.

I know we usually reserve this blog for posts about Self Helpless, but I wanted to drop a little cool on errbody for a second. While we were at SXSW we took time off from throwing Self Helpless condoms at people to put together the EOW Entertainment x Living Proof Magazine project. We interviewed 9 of the freshest musicians, filmmakers, animators, and DJs at the festival. You may already be familiar with one or two of these folks, but I guarantee you will discover some new dopeness. All of these people are on the come up and are making the art that we will be looking at and listening to in the future.

If you want to stay up on shit in the future - Living Proof Magazine comes highly recommended. You can find the small-format print version wherever you go to blow your tax return on fly gear. That thing is ghosty, it'll just be on the shelf at Supreme next to some super-double-extra-exclusive kicks, or there might be a copy next to the mixer at Fat Beats. You never know. But you can always catch up on the heat at www.livingproofmag.com. The digital version of the mag is available for download, and the blog is updated on the reg with mint photography, painting, graffiti, graphic design, mixtapes, all that good stuff.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I consider myself to be a pretty cutting edge dude. I pay attention to the interwebs and the FaceTubes and such. I know the buzzwords. Everybody is always talking about "transmedia". I read a few blogs about transmedia and I got sick of people telling me I needed to make an iPhone app for my movie. That kind of talk doesn't really hold water for me. I live on my dad's couch. I will be lucky if I can sell enough weed to afford to create our DVDs. There is no room for transmedia strategizing in my meager budget, or my massive to-do list. Or so I thought. After we were lucky enough to participate the in the Slamdance Filmmaker Summit, we got in contact with Christy Dena. Procuring Christy's services was one of the most positive moves we have made with Self Helpless.

I was expecting that Christy would skim through a few minutes of Self Helpless, and hit us with a few emails suggesting that we invest in an app designer and a better Facebook page and that would be the end of it. I was wrong.

Between flights around the world to deal with her major clients who pay her way more than I could afford, Christy found time to screen Self Helpless. In fact, she watched it twice. I find it difficult to verbalize how shocking this is. We have to fight tooth and nail to get people to watch our movie once, and most of those folks have nothing better to do. Not only did Christy give Self Helpless a thorough going through, she got it. She knew all the characters' names, their motivations, and their personalities. She read every blog post, comment, and tweet that we have spewed forth upon the web over the last year. She did her goddamned homework. And then she sent us her consultation: a 14 page PDF with a fully developed report on our film's transmedia possibilities, including a giant "brain map" flow chart diagram thingy outlining all of her different ideas and how they could relate to our release timeline.

Blown away would be an understatement. Christy treated our little indie film as if we were a major corporation. Here's why Christy's transmedia ideas were invaluable to us:

1 - We never would have come up with them. Again, we are pretty far from being stuck in any old school models. I would say we are forward thinking. Christy is better. She is really on some next level shit.

2 - Her ideas felt like they came from us. They were rude, a little shocking, and very funny. They reflected a thorough understanding of our film, our style, and the brand that we are building.

3 - The total cost of implementing Christy's ideas = $0.00. She designed her entire consultation with the understanding that our crew is quite capable with regards to media creation, and fairly destitute in the realm of budget. Her ideas make use of our best strengths, and account for our greatest weaknesses.

My only regret is that we did not get in touch with Christy as soon as we finished the script. Now that I have seen what Christy is capable of, I have realized how much more we could have done with Self Helples if we had gotten her involved sooner. If you are looking into making or releasing a film, company, or any other project that involves connecting with an audience or customer base, do yourself a favor and contact Christy.

Receive Email Updates About New Articles

Website Promo

About Me

Self Helpless is an indie comedy with grandes cojones. Its crass humor, despicable characters and refreshingly ridiculous story tow the line between hilarity and just plain wrong.
Self Helpless forces its audience to reconsider how badass true
independent film can be.